Pillar of Ashoka

A History of the World in 100 Objects

BBC

History

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2010

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The history of the world as told through objects at the British Museum arrives in India over 2000 years ago. Throughout this week Neil MacGregor is exploring the lives and methods of powerful new leaders. Today he looks at how the Indian ruler Ashoka turned his back on violence and plunder to promote the ethical codes inspired by Buddhism. He communicated to his vast new nation through a series of edicts written on rocks and pillars. Neil tells the life story of Ashoka through a remaining fragment of one of his great pillar edicts and considers his legacy in the Indian sub-continent today. Amartya Sen and the Bhutanese envoy to Britain, Michael Rutland, describe what happened when Buddhism and the power of the state come together. Producer: Anthony Denselow

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of a history of the world in a hundred objects from BBC Radio 4.
0:12.0	In 1947 on her 21st birthday, the future Queen made a heartfelt speech
0:17.6	dedicating her adult life to the service of her people. She did it in a BBC radio broadcast from South Africa.
0:25.0	There is a motto which has been born by many of my ancestors, a noble motto I serve.
0:32.0	Those words were an inspiration to many bygone airs to the throne when they made
0:37.9	their nightly dedication as they came to manhood.
0:42.4	As she went on to point out in her speech
0:44.0	none of her forebears could have spoken so directly to their subjects.
0:48.0	She and other rulers now have a huge range of mediums for their messages
0:52.0	but without any of these modern communication tools,
0:55.6	how do rulers reach out and speak to their people, and tell them of their commitment to their
1:00.8	welfare? commitment to their welfare.
1:05.8	Two thousand years ago, the Indian Emperor Ashoka The Great carved his messages in stone.
1:13.0	He is associated with the unity of India
1:16.0	as one of the first emperors ruling all over the land, the entire land.
1:21.0	It really puts at its heart the welfare, the happiness and the harmony of the people.
1:30.0	A history of the world, in a hundred objects. Pillar of Ashoka, 238 BC, erected in Uttar Pradesh in New York.
1:45.0	238 BC.
1:47.0	Erect in Uttar Uttar Pradesh, India.
1:57.0	This week I'm looking at the great powers of Europe and Asia around 2,000 years ago
2:06.4	and the leaders whose legacies are still with us in the world today. The objects
2:11.2	pose perennial questions.
	...

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